Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-09-18
AT CHISELHURST.
THE TOMB OF THE PRINCE WPERIAL
ERECTED BY CITIZENS.
The Home Of the Cable King-The Chapel at CHS
slhurst a Famous Resting Place for Royal
Dsad-A Mothers Undying LOvs-A
Famous English Woman.
Copyrighted, 1887, by Robert P. Porter


SDscial Correspondence ofd's Sunday Register.
LONDON, September "A fair day IN
Kent is something to be remembered, 1or
of all the counties in England there Is none
richer or more fruitful in charming land
scape, perfumed hop garden and prolnc
orchard In Kent there is nothing prettler
to be found than the Valley Of the Crays,
which includes four rural villages lying
close to Chislehurst.
Foot's Cray, one of the oldest and most
manor house in the country, Is
the home of Mr.. Fender, popularity known
as the Cable King, because he holds in his
fingers seven of the eight wire threads
that, lying under the broad Atlantic, BIND
together the old world and the new.
1t was on sunny afternoon that Mr..
Fender ordered his wagonette to take
those of his guests who were interested to
visit the little church at Chislehurst'
famous as the resting place of Napoleon
III and the Prince Imperial. With US IN
the wagonette was Sir Arthur Hood, the
First Lord of the Admiralty, tall thin
man of middle age, with bright eye, q
uuizzical mouth and the delicious git OF
repartee. With Sir Arthur was his
daughter, perfect specimen OF the In
glish blonde, and serenity itself in ex-
pression. Next to her sat Lord Frederick
and Lady Peel. The former was OF par
ticnlar interest to me as the son OF the
famous Sir Robert, to whose pictures he
hears a strong resemblance. There was
the same height, small and Weli-iormea
head, regular features and the naDit OF
leaning forward when walking. his Dody,
however. has not the same bulk as MS
fathers. and while he has the dellberatlon
of EXPRESSION he lacks the force for which
that great man was distinguished. AS the
beau ideal of a perfectly bred English
gentlemen Lord Frederick is to be adj
mired.
Lady Peel, much younger than her nus-
band. is decidedly un-English in her slen-
der, 1.-THE figure, glancing black eyes
AND NOBILITY OF FEATURE.
She wore a black Gainsborough hat; the
wind dashed her cheeks with color, and
blew her dark locks about her pretty ears,
in which shimmered huge pearls encircled
with diamonds.
A great deal of gay chat went on, but |
remember being mOmentarlly electrlheu
by lovely creature, all pink and white'
and sleepy eyelids-the daughter OF peer
of the realm-asking me if the instruction
of the blacks in America had really been
put an end to.
After driving through shady woods, and
mast several beautiful home farms, we ap-
proached the Chislehurst Common, re-
markable for three things. The first,
quantity of posts placed there by an old
sea CAPTAIN, a whaler These posts are of
pure whale bone, and must be worth nearly
their weight in gold. A tiny strip OF
whalebone ten inches in length, third OF
an inch in breadth, costs in London one
shilling and sixpence, or thirty.six cents;
and that is the reason, if you will forgive
the depression, that good corsets are so ex-
pensive, for those under guinea are stiff
ened with steel and composition bones that
are sham and delusion to the purchaser.
| felt for my sex paug of regret that
those
oUTPosTs OF A MANS VANITY
had not been put upon the market for
woman's comfort and establishment.
Crossing the Common from the west one
sees sunken pit, circular in form, about
six feet deep. and more than hundred in
diameter. This is one of the few remain
ing cock-pits in England, and has been
used within the memory of men still liv-
ing here.
The feature of the common, however,
that attracts visitors from all over the con-
tinent, is a large granite cross, bearing on
it's face the imperial bee, and the simple
inscription:
Napoleon, Eugene, Louis, Jean, Joseph.
Prince Imperial.
Killed in Zululand,
Isl June, 1879.
On the back of the pedestal are other in
scriptions to the effect that this monument
was erected by the citizens of Chislehurst,
and a clause from the will of the young
prince expressing his gratitude to the
Royal Family and England.
There was something to me exceedingly
forlorn about that cross. Big, bold and
bare in its outlines, cold and polished in
its substance, without a shelteripg branch,
a tendril of vine TO soften its rigor, only
the wind from the Common to sweep over
it, and the rustic OF the grass beneath to
respond. Certainly it seemed more like
AN EMBLEM OF DESPAIR
than hope.
South Of the Common stands the little
church of st. Mary, and a more charming
and suitable resting place for the bodies of
the last Napoleons, father and son, could
hardly be imagined, 1t is thousand
pities that the kmpress has moi rested con.
tent, but must unearth her dead to place
them in the magnificent mauSoeum she is
building at Marlborough. The chapel,
which is gray and Gothic, is surrounded
by beautiful elms, the delicate bright
green of the foliage harmonizing with the
soft dull tints of the stone, which is finish
ed in the French decorated style. AS we
drew up at the gate afternoon service was
lust over, and we entered the church. The
air, heavy with flowers and incense, was
shot by rays of sunlight penetrating
through the windows Of stained glass. The
interior of the building is very simple, and
it's simplicity the more marked by the NOR
tuary chapel which the Empress built for the
reception of her husbands remains. The
chapel is only divided from the body Of
the church o7 :So steps and some slender
columns of jasper. There is very pretty
rose window 81 one end and an altar at the
other. Resting on the inlaid mafbla aoor
is the large, highly polished sarcophagus of
Peterhead granite, the gift of Queen Vic
tOria, bearing in carved letters the inscrip-
ton:
Napoleon Ill.
RIP
After all, could much more have been
said2 Around the floor were many wreaths
of immortelles, gloomy in their mixture of
black and white, dusty with age and de-
pressing to look at.
The decorations on the Prince lmperial's